David R. Goode
Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer
Norfolk Southern Corporation
Norfolk, Virginia
"In business, the challenge is to spark the creativity that will make a business great. In both business and the arts, you have to find the right combination - one that ignites creativity and manages the bottom-line."
- David R. Goode,
Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer
Norfolk Southern Corporation
Since joining Norfolk Southern Corporation in 1965, David Goode has provided the vision and leadership required to weave the arts in the company's operating culture, and he has devoted considerable energies to serving on boards of arts organizations and encouraged other business executives to embrace and support the arts.
Under his direction the Norfolk Southern Foundation has systematically provided about one-third of $85 million in grants to the arts. Additionally, he has been a champion of the development of the company's museum-quality art collection of more than 400 works that are displayed throughout the company and loaned to museums and the Art in Embassies Program.
David Goode's long-term service to the arts began as a director of the Mill Theatre in Roanoke, Virginia. He was also Chairman of the Art Museum of Western Virginia in Roanoke and the Virginia Commission for the Arts. He served, or currently serves, as a director of the Hampton Roads Business Consortium for Arts Support, the Center in the Square, the Chrysler Museum of Art, the Virginia Arts Festival and the Virginia Symphony, all in Virginia. He has been the Chairman of the Business Committee for the Arts, Inc. (BCA) and a member of the Corporate Fund Board of The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and the Philadelphia Orchestra.
To further the development of the arts, David Goode makes certain that the company provides support for arts organizations large and small. The Virginia Symphony, for example, receives annual operating support and the company sponsored the orchestra's New York debut at Carnegie Hall. He also oversees annual support to the Chrysler Museum of Art, The Virginia Opera, WHRO, Virginia Stage Company, Virginia Musical Theatre, as well as the Hampton Roads Business Consortium for Arts.
Support, which provides operating support to arts organizations throughout the area. Under his direction, Norfolk Southern also provides support to the Gettysburg National Battlefield Museum Foundation in Gettysburg; the North Carolina Transportation Museum Foundation in Spencer, North Carolina; The John F. Kennedy Center of Performing Arts in Washington, D.C.; Woodruff Arts Center in Atlanta; the Western Virginia Foundation for the Arts and Sciences in Roanoke; the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts in Philadelphia; and Colonial Williamsburg Foundation in Williamsburg.
To promote economic development and tourism, David Goode was a driving
force in the establishment of the nationally recognized Virginia Arts
Festival in the Hampton Roads area of Virginia, which showcases international
artists and local arts organizations. He also committed Norfolk Southern
to a $3 million leadership grant to Jamestown 2007 - a celebration
of America's 400th birthday. And, he directed the company to make the
first grant of $50,000 toward the construction of the Pilot Schooner,
Virginia - a replica of the ambassadorial vessel that is being
built by the Virginia Maritime Heritage Foundation in Richmond.
Guided by David Goode, the company recently donated a former Norfolk & Western Railway passenger station building in Roanoke to establish the Roanoke Visitors Center and the O. Winston Link Museum - the first photographic museum in the country dedicated to the work of one artist. Additionally, he made a personal contribution to the project, encouraged other executives to do the same and pledged $300,000 from the company.
He also arranged for Norfolk Southern to provide rail access for Artrain, America's Museum in Motion, and he has been at the forefront of developing a new museum to be located on the main floor of the company's headquarters, about railroads past, present and future that is scheduled to open in November 2005.
David Goode's vision, leadership and commitment to the arts and his untiring efforts to increase business involvement with the arts have spurred growth and appreciation of the arts throughout the United States.